My grocery and other shopping savings in the Sioux Falls, South Dakota area. Projects around the house and beginning home school adventures.
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Triple Clicks

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Fall is officially here. I think we did pretty good, we walked around town, many times a week from about April to last week. I was hoping to take a walk today, and while the toddlers and I would be fine, I just don't feel comfortable with keeping the baby in the 20mph COLD wind that long. So it is with a sad face that I put the stroller away, sprayed with vinegar to keep it safe from the millions of spiders in my basement.. Or at least that's what I should do. It did get sprayed, and the basket did get emptied (we keep blankets in the bottom to protect eggs on walks home from the grocery store).. but it's still sitting in the bottom. My baking has been put on hold until I can make it to the store because we are missing key ingredients here and there. We have cocoa mix and hot tea bags in the cupboard ready for cold days. Windows are covered in plastic to help keep the cold out, and then patched because of a stupid cat.. I have many crochet and sewing projects lined up to keep me busy, and of course school. We haven't done much school on paper the last few weeks, but the kids have been making shapes and letters with their hot wheels and matchbox cars.. So they have been 'doing school'. Dennis and I are brainstorming ways to to save money. We feel stuck with our monthly bills, and most of them we can't change, but we are looking into ones we can. We have Google TV and Google Chromecast to switch to to eliminate the satellite TV bill, along with subscriptions to Hulu and Netflix. We are working on the cell bills, but not entirely sure what we are doing there as only one provider that has reception in our area. Dry Cocoa Mix1 Cup Dry Milk1 Cup Dry Creamer1/2 Cup unsweetened cocoa 1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar1 teaspoon saltBlend on high for 2 minutes to make the grains fine, then use 3 tablespoons per coffee mug cup of hot water. Add to leftover coffee for a homemade mocha, or add some vanilla for vanilla flavored hot chocolate.

Monday, October 27, 2014

I know, I still haven't put on my grocery savings from last week.. To say it's been crazy around here, is an understatement. Friday the van decided it wasn't going to work right and so hubby stayed home from work. Saturday we had to back to the city.. Sunday was church and some baking... And now we are to Monday already, some popcorn chicken is cooling and freezing, bread is rising, coconut oil is getting soft to make cookies (ok..it will in a bit when I'm done here because I just remember it OOPS). I spent $350, but we did get some extras here and there. One of the things my hubby wanted to try for snacks was homemade granola bars, we can get them in bulk at Sam's for a good price.. but they have additives and since it's something we KNEW I could make, we decided to go from scratch. I found a recipe on Pinterest and went to town. :) Fairly simply, just a little time consuming. I did alter it a litte, but I imagine you could make just about any flavor you wanted to using this as a base. Ingredients: 7 cups old fashioned rolled oats 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted1 teaspoon salt3/4 cup honey3/4 cup packed brown sugarPreheat oven to 375. Line a 18*13 inch rimmed baking pan with aluminum foil. Combine oats, oil and salt in a large bowl and mix until the oats are evenly coated. Transfer the mixture to the baking sheet and spread into an even layer. Bake, stirring every 10 minutes, until pale gold about 20-25 minutes. Remove the oats and lower oven temp to 300. Leave the foil on the pan, you'll need it again.Combine honey and brown sugar in a sauce pan and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly, to dissolve sugar. (I just left the heat lower and kept an eye on it until the honey was not crystallized anymore and brown sugar was dissolved). Combine oats, honey and brown sugar in a large bowl and stir until combined. Transfer the granola mixture to the pan and press down to make a firm, even layer. Bake until golden brown 35-40 minutes. Cool in the baking sheet for 10-15 minutes then cut. Allow to completely cool. They won't be hard when you first take them out, they harden as they cool. Can be kept for 2 weeks. The original recipe has cinnamon, nuts and vanilla in it-so I suggest looking at that, too. She also says to spray the foil before putting the sugary mixture back on the pan, but I didn't have anything stick..so that's up to you.

Friday, October 17, 2014

Not too much out of the normal has been going on around here. I severely underestimated how much flour I would need this month, so I'm almost out of flour, with not enough to make much of anything. The kids have been doing school most days. I put their art stuff and some extra worksheets in a three drawer tote so they can get them without getting in the organized school stuff. I printed off some shape sheets that I plan on having them cut out and paste on some old cardstock I have sitting around. I'm sick and tired of turkey lol, but we have another week of it to eat. I made a pair of sweatpants, but I didn't do the waist band right.. So when I get it figured out WHAT I did wrong, I'll use my good fleece instead of scrap material and share. I've also been working on replacing the leg elastic in the pocket AIO diapers (All In One, One size.. they fit from around 8 pounds to 30 ish pounds thanks to a bunch of different snaps and the pockets mean I can stuff enough to last if I can't change her every few hours, such as nights). They are four years old and needed new elastic. Thanks to a tip from a friend, it's pretty easy. Fold the diaper inside out, find the ends of your elastic, Rip the stitches out of one end, then I attach the new elastic with a safety pin in between, stuff the safety pin into the elastic casing on the diaper, rip the stitches from the other end and start pulling. You'll pull out the old and get the new in place all in one move if the safety pin holds up. Easy, but hard on the fingers and time consuming. Grace's hair is getting in her face already and I don't want to cut it.. So I've been looking up ways to make some hair bows that will actually stay. I don't think I have on hand what I need, but the supplies look fairly cheap and the process easy. Next week is shopping week, and under hubby's request I am waiting to see the ads to meal plan (I'm going a little insane with this method....)

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Yep. Only took me a week lol. I attempted a meal plan this week... But out of two days, I've done one of the meals on the meal plan. So I give up for this week lol. Our meals are sort of up in the air right now, so I'm taking what we have in the fridge and making meals from that as the turkey thaws. I have been keeping up with baking, but have to go to the store today to do much more as I only have one egg left. Bread, cookies and popcorn chicken are all on the list for week. I'm also in the process of making Grace some warmer soft-soled baby shoes with the weather getting cold. But I must admit, compared to last week, I feel like I'm being lazy. I did get the bathroom scrubbed(minus the clogged up sink) and have been keeping the kids' rooms cleaned.. I have to clean our room deeply and go back to the hardware store tomorrow to get plastic to cover the windows. This will help keep the drafts out during the winter and into the summer, hopefully the cat won't shred them this year, just find them in the hardware department at your favorite box store or at a hardware store. 3M Makes the best in my opinion, but I have used other brands. Have a good week y'all!